How Stress Wears You Down - Physically and Mentally

Have you ever felt constantly tired, drained, or getting sick more often when you're under stress?Stress or psychological stress isn’t just a fleeting emotion. It’s a complex biological process that affects your brain, hormones, immune system, and even your daily behavior.

In this blog post, we’ll explore how stress takes a toll on your physical health, both inside your body (biological effects)and through your habits (behavioural effects); all based on reliable scientific findings.

What Is Stress and Where Does It Come From?

Back in the 19th century, a scientist named Claude Bernard pointed out that to live freely and healthily, our bodies must maintain a stable internal environment, a state known as internal balance. In other words, no matter how much the outside world changes, the body needs to keep its internal systems steady to function properly (Holmes, 1986). Later, physiologist Walter Cannon gave this phenomenon a more scientific name: homeostasis, meaning “biological balance” (Cannon, 1929).

In 1956, Hans Selye, an endocrinologist, was the first to describe stress as the body’s automatic response to any external pressure. When you're faced with something overwhelming, like intense pressure, a sudden loss, or bad news meaning your body switches into “defense mode” to cope (Selye, 1956). According to Dobson & Smith (2000), stress happens when there’s an imbalance between external demands and your internal ability to handle them. In simpler terms: when something feels “too much to handle,” stress kicks in. And it’s not just about work or school; stress can be deeply personal, tied to your beliefs, goals, emotions, or worries (Hobfoll, 1988).

Today, researchers usually divide stress into two types:

• Eustress: positive stress that motivates you to act, focus, and grow.

• Distress: negative stress that leaves you feeling drained, anxious, and more vulnerable to illness.

  
  

Although both types trigger the same biological reactions in the body, it’s prolonged distress that poses serious risks to both your physical and mental health (Selye, 1956; Dhabhar, 2014; Boone, 2003).

Stress and Biological Responses in the Body

When you feel stressed, your brain sends out signals to activate the body's “alarm system.” Specifically, a small region in the brain called the hypothalamus kicks off a chain reaction, instructing glands in your body to release two key stress hormones: cortisol and adrenaline. These two hormones work as a rapid-response team:

• Adrenaline gets your heart racing and increases blood flow.

• Cortisol helps keep you alert, focused, and fuels you with energy to deal with the challenge.

  
  

This is the body’s natural way of preparing for a “fight or flight” response when faced with danger, a survival mechanism deeply wired into human biology (Ranabir & Reetu, 2011). In the short term, this stress response is actually helpful. It keeps you sharp and ready, like an emergency alarm going off at the right time. But if that alarm keeps blaring without a break, your body doesn’t get the chance to rest or reset. That’s when you enter a state called allostatic load meaning your body is worn down from constantly adapting to stress without pause.

The result? Almost every system in your body starts to feel the impact: your immune system weakens, your blood pressure rises, and your digestive, hormonal, and reproductive systems may also become disrupted if the stress goes on too long (Padgett & Glaser, 2003).

Cardiovascular System: The Most Vulnerable Under Stress

When you're under stress, your body releases adrenaline, a hormone that causes your heart to beat faster, raises your blood pressure, and makes your blood clot more easily (Engler & Engler, 1995). This is a natural survival response that helps you react quickly in dangerous situations.

But when this response gets triggered over and over for a long time, it can become a real threat to your heart health. Prolonged stress has been linked to several cardiovascular problems, including:

• Chronic high blood pressure

• Coronary heart disease (when the heart doesn't get enough blood and oxygen)

• Stroke or sudden cardiac arrest (Golbidi et al., 2015)

One study found that people who regularly experience negative emotions are twice as likely to suffer from reduced blood flow to the heart (Gullette et al., 1997). Even more striking, women in conflict-heavy marriages were found to be three times more likely to have heart attacks compared to those in loving, supportive relationships (Orth-Gomer et al., 2000).

Immune System: When Stress Makes the Body "Give Up"

In some situations, short-term stress like feeling nervous before an exam or a big presentation can actually make your body more alert and temporarily boost your immune response.

But when stress becomes chronic and long-lasting, the immune system starts to weaken significantly:

• The number of important immune cells like T cells, B cells, and NK cells (your body’s virus- and cancer-fighting “soldiers”) begins to drop (Kiecolt-Glaser et al., 1989).

• You become more prone to colds, infections, and minor illnesses (Cohen et al., 1997).

• Autoimmune diseases such as lupus or psoriasis may flare up and become more severe (Peralta-Ramírez et al., 2004).

• Wounds heal more slowly - one study found that during exam season, students’ wounds took up to 40% longer to heal (Marucha et al., 1998).

  
  

Why does this happen? Because cortisol, the stress hormone, interferes with immune cell function. It slows down your body’s ability to produce antibodies and weakens its power to destroy abnormal cells including early cancer cells.

How Stress Affects Behaviour and Lifestyle

Stress doesn’t just quietly mess with your body from the inside, it also changes the way you live and behave every day. You might not even notice it at first, but when you're under stress, many of your daily habits can start to shift away from a healthy routine:

🍫 Emotional eating

Ever found yourself craving bubble tea, sweets, or fried food when you're feeling low? That’s called emotional eating, a common coping response when we're stressed (Tice et al., 2001). While it might comfort you for a moment, emotional eating can lead to weight gain, digestive issues, and even more fatigue over time.

😴 Poor sleep, foggy mind

Stress can mess with your sleep. You might find it harder to fall asleep or stay asleep, and even if you do sleep, it’s not restful. Deep sleep (Slow-wave sleep) becomes shorter, while REM sleep (the dreaming phase) increases leaving you feeling groggy, forgetful, and unable to concentrate the next day (Palagini et al., 2013).

🚬 Turning to stimulants for relief

Some people turn to cigarettes, alcohol, or strong coffee as a quick fix to “take the edge off.” But these are temporary traps. In the long run, they only make your body feel more drained, increase your risk of addiction, and can seriously harm your liver, lungs, and heart especially for those already facing economic or social stress (Peretti-Watel et al., 2009).

Stress and Mental-Social Disorders

Stress doesn’t just affect the body, it also takes a serious toll on mental health and social relationships. In many cases, it acts as a “silent trigger” behind serious psychological issues.

🧠 Stress and mental disorders

Many studies have shown that chronic or overwhelming stress is closely linked to conditions such as:

• Anxiety, depression, and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) (Kessler et al., 1995; Phillips, 2009)

• Children from families with divorce or constant conflict are more likely to develop emotional and behavioral problems (Peterson & Seligman, 1984)

• War veterans may carry psychological trauma for decades, some even experience lasting effects for 40 years or more (Marmar et al., 2015)

  
  

🌪️ When an entire community feels the stress

Stress doesn’t just stop at the individual level, it can also spread across communities. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic or after natural disasters like floods or hurricanes, stress levels in entire populations rise sharply. This has been linked to serious social consequences, including:

• Increased domestic violence

• Higher crime rates

• A stronger sense of isolation and disconnection from others (Morgan & Boxall, 2020)

Gender and Age Differences in Stress Effects

Everyone reacts to stress differently, and factors like gender and age can shape how much stress affects us.

Men: When stress becomes long-term, testosterone levels which are linked to energy and sexual health can drop. This may lead to reduced libido, sexual dysfunction, and even a loss of self-confidence (Chand & Lovejoy, 2011).

Women: Stress can disrupt hormone balance, leading to irregular menstrual cycles and more intense PMS symptoms like cramps, irritability, and fatigue (Beck et al., 1990).

And older adults: Chronic stress speeds up immune aging - a process where the immune system becomes weaker over time. As a result, older people may respond less effectively to vaccines and become more vulnerable to infections (Bauer et al., 2009).

Conclusion: Stress Is Real - But Manageable

Stress is a natural part of life. But if we don’t understand it and learn how to manage it properly, it can quietly wear down our bodies from the inside out. The good news is: once you recognize the signs of stress and understand how it affects you, you can start taking back control by:

• Maintaining healthy eating and sleeping habits

• Building regular exercise into your routine

• Reaching out to a mental health professional when needed

  
  

You don’t need to get rid of stress entirely and you just need to learn how to live with it mindfully and proactively.

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